


Thin Walls

by DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Crying Michael, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Michael Really Loves Cats, comforting ashton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside/pseuds/DontGetTooCloseItsDarkInside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We live in adjacent apartments and our bedrooms are on opposite sides of a very thin wall and one night I heard you crying and talked to you through the wall” AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thin Walls

**Author's Note:**

> I HAVE BEEN WRITING SO MUCH LATELY I AM PURE TRASH

There was little else that Ashton hated more than the thin walls in the apartment building he lived in. He put up with it because he had too, because it was better than living in the dorms. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

He could hear pretty much everything that was going on in his neighbors apartments at all times of the day without fail, he found himself longing and appreciating any time that they weren't home just so he could have some peace and quiet.

But even then there was noise.

His neighbor on the right had cats. He didn't know how many exactly but he was pretty sure there was more than two. So even when their owner was out he could hear them meowing and scratching at things. It made Ashton’s nose wrinkle just thinking about it. He was extremely allergic to cats, and because of it he wasn't all that fond of them. 

He hoped he wasn't living next to a crazy cat lady. Or man. He had only catched a glance of his neighbor as they entered their apartment a few weeks ago and the only thing he had noticed was the bright blue hair before the door had slammed shut behind them. 

The guy on his left had very loud, disturbing sounding sex with his boyfriend every single day without fail between nine and ten am. Seriously, what was he doing to that poor guy? How was he still able to walk? He had seen him leave the apartment a few times, the boyfriend, he was little bit taller then Ashton and had black hair and tattoos scattered here and there on his left arm. He had never actually seen his neighbor in person before. Thought Ashley from across the hall insisted that he was hot as hell and had shoulders as broad as the horizon. Or some other ridiculous comparison like that.

He had never given any complaints to the landlord. He wasn't that big of an asshole, he figured they were struggling college students just like him and wanted to give them a break, even though it was beyond irritating to be roused from his slumber every single day to the sound sex and cats. 

Which wasn't fair at all. Because his sex life had been as dry as death valley for the last six months and he couldn't even own a cat without sneezing to death. 

He only had to live there for another year, another year and he would be done with college and he could move back to Sydney, get a better place, and look for a decent job. And leave all of these noisy schmucks behind. Good riddance. 

After a long-and surprisingly quiet day, Ashton got his studying done and went to bed a little earlier than usual. But he figured he had earned a couple more extra hours of sleep since he had been working so hard lately.   
Except that didn't actually happen.

He had been sleeping for a little over two hours when he woke up from to the sound of whimpering. 

His first thought was that lefty and his boyfriend had decided to finally have some nighttime fun, so he instinctively grabbed one of his throw pillows and threw it at the left wall of his room, making a soft thud. 

“Shut the fuck up!” he shouted. 

“Sorry.”

The voice was not only much closer than he thought but it came from his right, were there was only wall. 

He looked at the wall blankly and a moment later heard a loud sniffle. “Did I wake you up?” the voice asked through the wall. It sounded very much like whoever it was had been crying pretty hard for quite some time. 

“Uh…” he said. 

A heard a muffled sob. 

“Are you alright?” he asked-who he assumed was his neighbor. Unless it was a ghost. He wouldn't be too surprised if it was, the halls of this place did get pretty eerie after nightfall

“No.” the voice answered truthfully. 

Ashton sat up and leaned against the wall, resting his head against it so he could hear the voice more clearly. 

“What's wrong?” He asked him softly. 

Even while crying, his neighbor had a pretty voice. 

“My kitten died.” The voice sniffled and Ashton’s heart dropped to the bit of his stomach. Sure, he wasn't the biggest fan of cats-but that was still sad. Especially since it was just a baby. He would never want something so horrible to happen to something so young and adorable, and losing a pet was always hard, he still remembered crying when his pet goldfish died when he was six. Truly difficult times. Knowing that his neighbor was such a lover of cats, he figured he was pretty beat up about it.

Well obviously, since he was crying about it at one in the morning. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ashton said softly. 

“It was just a b-baby,” his neighbor sniffled. “It was born on Tuesday. I didn't know Coffee was knocked up, I didn't have time to kitten proof the house. It got its neck wrapped around the pull up thingy of the blinds and it suff-suffocated-it-its-itself.” He broke out into loud sobs that he was clearly trying hard to stop. 

Ashton couldn't blame him. He was starting to get teary eyed himself. 

“It's all my fault,” He sobbed loudly. “I shouldn't have left them by themselves, but it was only for a little while and I thought Coffee and Apples and Gilbert would be able to look after them.”

Coffee. Apples. And Gilbert. If the situation wasn't so serious he would probably be laughing his head off right now. 

Instead he said, “Hey, it's not your fault, you couldn't have known that would happened.” 

A loud sniffle. “Really?” 

“Of course.” Ashton said. “Don't be so hard on yourself.” 

“But now Coffee is so sad.” His neighbor said, sounding completely heartbroken with his cats pain.   
“Now she only has four kittens and she keeps looking around likes she's trying to find the fifth one and looking at me like she knows it's my fault.”

“I’m sure Coffee doesn't blame you.” Ashton comforted. “Even if she could understand what had happened.” 

“Really?” His neighbor asked in this adorable sad voice that made Ashton want to bust through the wall and give him a giant hug.

“Yeah, really.” Ashton nearly cooed. 

A few more soft sniffles sounded through the wall. “Thanks.” a pause. “My names Michael by the way.”

Ashton smiled softly to himself. “I’m Ashton.” 

“Nice to meet you. Kind of. It would have been nice, I guess, if it wasn't like this.” He had sobered up a bit and his voice was a little bit clearer, so he had probably stopped crying. Ashton was glad, he didn't want him to be sad. 

“Same.” He said, and then blushed, wondering if he sounded weird. 

Michael let out a watery laugh. “You’re cute.” 

“So are you.” He said before he could stop himself. 

There was a pause and Ashton worried that he had scared the boy away. “You don't even know what I look like.”

“Well you don't know what I look like either.” Ashton reasoned. He didn't have to see Michael to know he was cute-he could just tell. 

“Yes I do! You're the hot curly haired guy from my Psychology class.” 

Ashton found himself smirking. “Hot curly haired guy, huh?” 

“S-shut up!’ Michael said. “My mind isn't clear right now!” 

“Do you wanna maybe go get some coffee with this hot curly haired guy?” Ashton found himself asking without thinking. 

Shit, shit, shit, had he gone too far? Had he offended Michael? Did he think he was sensitive for asking him that when he had just been crying about his dead kitten? Did-

“I would like that.”

Well damn. Looks like the thin walls weren't that bad after all.


End file.
